Cooling system with refrigerant for air conditioning and lowering temperature of engine

ABSTRACT

A cooling system with refrigerant for air conditioning and engine parts, comprising: a compressor, a high pressure circuit filled with the refrigerant; and a low pressure circuit filled with the refrigerant too. The high pressure circuit further comprises a condenser, the low pressure circuit further comprises an evaporator and a heat exchanger, the heat exchanger at an interior thereof is provided with a refrigerant passage and a fluid passage, which enters the engine, with the two passages next to each other and contacting with each other and at an exterior thereof includes a refrigerant inlet, a refrigerant outlet, a fluid entrance to the engine and a fluid exit from the engine. Once the compressor is in a state of running, the refrigerant in the low pressure circuit passes through the evaporator and enters the refrigerant passage in the engine via a connecting pipe in the low pressure circuit and the refrigerant inlet and then flows out from the heat exchanger via the refrigerant outlet; a fluid for being cooled flows into the fluid passage via the fluid entrance and flows out from the fluid exit before reaching an engine body; and temperature of the fluid during entering fluid passage is higher than the refrigerant in the refrigerant passage and heat in the fluid transmits the refrigerant between a wall of the fluid passage and a wall of the refrigerant passage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cooling system for a car enginesystem/device, and particularly to a cooling system/device, in which anordinary car room air conditioning system with refrigerant, acompressor, heat dissipating fins and pipeline for circulating therefrigerant is utilized and expanded to provide a function of enginesystem cooling in addition to the car room air conditioning.

2. Description of Related Art

The conventional car room air conditioning system, which includesrefrigerant, a compressor, heat dissipating fins and pipeline forcirculating the refrigerant, usually only provides a function of coolingcar room space and not for cooling the engine system. On the other hand,the engine system generally is cooled by way of water circulation of thewater box system passing through the engine body (water cooling type) orpart of outside air being guided to the engine blowing the dissipatingfins surrounding the engine (air cooling type) with the aid of oilcirculation for heat dissipation.

These traditional cooling systems for engine are designed to meetordinary air temperature condition and driving requirement so that it isincapable of treating abnormally high air temperature situation and/orlong period of engine running fiercely. It is very likely to result inexcessively high engine system temperature and lead to engine partsbeing out of order and/or short life span. The cooling system of thepresent invention allows the engine system sharing part of the airconditioning capability (usually being surplus) such that the enginesystem can be cooled sufficiently So as to enhance work efficiencythereof and prolong life span of the parts therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The crux of the present invention is to utilize the high temperaturededuction capability obtained with the refrigerant type cooling systemof car room air conditioning, in which a connecting pipe between theevaporator in the low pressure stage of the refrigerant type coolingsystem and a dehumidifying water collector at the middle section thereofis arranged to guide the refrigerant into a heat exchanger and therefrigerant passes through a refrigerant passage in the heat exchangerbefore flowing back to another connecting pipe between next evaporatorsection and dehumidifying water collector. One of embodiments inaccordance with the present invention provides that heat exchangercovers a section of the intake pipe in front of the throttle valve andthe engine intake pipe has a greater area contacting with pipe wall ofthe refrigerant passage.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides that the intakepipe covered by the heat exchanger is replaced with the oil pipeline andthe oil pipeline in the heat exchanger has smaller pipe diameter with aroundabout way so as to extend the length thereof in the heat exchangeras long as possible for increasing contact area with the refrigerantpassage. Hence, the cooling system of the present invention can cool theintake air and/or the oil of the engine in addition to the car room airconditioning. As a result, it is capable of enhancing the engineefficiency, lowering chance of malfunction for the engine and prolonginglifetime thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of pipeline illustrating a first embodiment of thepresent invention applied to cooling air intake of an engine;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of pipeline illustrating a second embodiment ofthe present invention applied to cooling air intake of an enginesectional view of the pivotal shaft assembly shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of pipeline illustrating a third embodiment of thepresent invention applied to cooling air intake of an engine perspectiveview of another embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 a is a plan view illustrating an embodiment of the presentinvention applied to cooling engine oil;

FIG. 4 b is a plan view illustrating a further embodiment of the presentinvention applied to cooling engine oil; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a water spray cooling apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, a cooling system with refrigerant according to thepresent invention includes a compressor 1, a pulley 2, a condenser 4, aconnecting pipe 3, which is disposed between the compressor 1 and thecondenser 4, a fan 5 for the condenser 4, an expansion valve 7, anevaporator 8, a connecting pipe 6, which is disposed between thecondenser and the evaporator 8, a cold air fan 9, a dehumidifying watercollector 11, a connecting pipe 10, which is disposed between theevaporator and the dehumidifying water collector and a connecting pipe12, which is disposed between the dehumidifying water collector and thecompressor. The preceding components are basic elements required forconstituting a car room of an air conditioning system. The route fromthe compressor 1 and the connecting pipe 3 to the expansion valve 7 viathe condenser 4 is a high pressure stage and the route after theexpansion valve 7 to the connecting pipe 12 via the evaporator 8 is alow pressure stage.

The entire circulation cycle includes the high pressure stage and thelow pressure stage and is filled with the refrigerant. The refrigerantis in a state of liquid at the high pressure stage and in a state of gasat the low pressure stage. The compressor 1 compresses the refrigerantcoming from the low pressure stage and sends the pressurized refrigerantto the high pressure stage. The expansion valve 7 admits the pressurizedrefrigerant to flow toward the low pressure stage only if the pressurein the high pressure stage exceeds the pressure in the low pressurestage a preset pressure difference. The preset pressure difference cansecure the refrigerant in the high pressure stage with a high pressurebeing capable of being liquefied and the refrigerant in the low pressurestage with a low pressure being gasified under a normal condition withwhich appropriate amount of refrigerant is filled in the cycle and theambient temperature is in a normal range. Of course, the refrigerant inthe high pressure stage may keep in a state of gas due to hightemperature without cooling aids of the condenser 4 and the condenserfan 5 in spite of being high pressure. On the other hand, therefrigerant in the low pressure stage may keep in a state of liquid dueto low temperature without heat collection aids of the evaporator 8 andthe cold air fan 9 in spite of being low pressure.

The gaseous refrigerant from the low pressure stage is compressed withthe compressor 1 and sent to the high pressure stage as liquidrefrigerant such that the temperature of the refrigerant rises underhigh pressure because of heat absorbing previously and the heat can bedissipated effectively to outside with aids of the condenser 4, which isprovided with large cooling area, and the condenser fan 5. Then, therefrigerant passes through the expansion valve 7 and enters the lowpressure stage with lower heat. The refrigerant entering the lowpressure stage decreases the pressure thereof largely in company withlowering the temperature thereof largely. The relationship of thepressure and the temperature can be expresses with the equation of idealgas, PV=nRT, wherein, P is designated as pressure value, V is designatedas volume of a container, n is designated as number of gas molecules, Ris designated as a constant and T is designated as absolute temperature.

The evaporator fan 9 blows the air coming from the car room or outdoorstoward the evaporator 6 and finally to the car room as cold air via airconditioning pipeline and air outlet. As the foregoing, the refrigerantentering the low pressure stage has lowered the temperature thereofgreatly and, in fact, the temperature thereof can drop below 0° C. Incase of an older type of car air conditioning system (withoutmicrocomputer constant temperature control) for being used, the airoutgoing pipeline may be blocked due to occurring freeze to result inoutgoing air flow being less gradually till no air flow coming out iflittle air flow being blown out. Under this circumference, if the fan isturned up to the maximum capacity and it is switched to the mode ofguiding in outside air, the temperature of the outside air is higher soas to melt the frozen pipeline and to restore the original air flow.However, the cold air becomes colder with vapor. This phenomenon provestemperature of the refrigerant in the low pressure stage can drop downbelow 0° C.

The highly efficient temperature reduction capability of the refrigeranttype cooling system is utilized in the present invention so that acooling block A of an engine system is introduced in the connecting pipe10, which is between the evaporator and dehumidified water collector inthe low pressure stage. The cooling block A in the first embodimentincludes a heat exchanger 20 surrounding a section of the intake pipe 21at the front side of a throttle valve 213 (counted with intake airsequence) in the engine. The heat exchanger 20 includes a refrigerantinlet 221, a refrigerant outlet 222 and an internal refrigerant passage22, which provides a greater area contacting with a section of intakepipe 21 in the heat exchanger 20. The refrigerant passes through theevaporator 8 to enter the refrigerant passage 22 via the connecting pipe10 and the refrigerant inlet 221 and then flows out the heat exchanger20 via the refrigerant outlet 222. The engine intake air flows into asection of the intake pipe 21 via the air inlet 211 and then flows outthe exchanger 20 via the air outlet 212 before reaching the throttlevalve 213.

Because the engine intake air has been cooled down highly efficientlyduring passing through the heat exchanger 20 before entering the enginecylinder, the first embodiment of the present invention at least has thefollowing effects: first, the gross heat of the intake air is decreasedduring entering the engine and it represses the engine to generate heatto a certain extent, that is, it reduces the temperature; next, due toair entering the engine having lower temperature and the engine intakepressure and the cylinder volume being unchanged, the number of gasmolecules entering the engine increases according to the equation ofideal gas PV=nRT such that mixture of fuel and air in the cylinder canprovide greater explosive power to enhance torque and horsepower or tosave more fuel. The second effect is the same function as a light supercharger mounted in a car and the air intake in the engine can increaseaccordingly. If an intermediate cooler do not equipped in the engine,temperature of the engine rises up during running regardless the supercharger is turbine type or mechanical type. The cooling system for theengine intake air in the first embodiment of the present invention notonly can increase the air intake but also can lower the enginetemperature.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 illustrates the path of the refrigerantflowing to the dehumidified water collector 11 from the evaporator 8requires to pass through the cooling block A in the engine system. Infact, the entire refrigerant cycle can be designed as a cycle shown inFIG. 2. It can be seen that there are parallel connecting pipes 10, 10′between the evaporator 8 and the dehumidifying water collector 11. Theconnecting pipe 10′ communicates with the evaporator 8 and thedehumidifying water collector 11 and the connecting pipe 10 at themiddle section thereof is inserted with a cooling block A in the enginesystem such that the refrigerant, which flows to the dehumidifying watercollector 11 from the evaporator 8 via the connecting pipe 10, has topasses through the cooling block A and performs cooling of the enginesystem.

The connecting pipe 10 provides a valve 101 at least at an end thereof.Once the refrigerant cooling system is started by the user, the car roomair conditioning can be performed regardless the cooling function of theengine system is effected or not. The cooling function of the enginesystem depends on if the valve 101 being opened or closed. In case ofthe valve 101 being opened, the refrigerant can pass through theconnecting pipe 10 and the cooling block A to result in cooling functionof the engine system. In case of the valve 101 being closed, therefrigerant stops passing through the connecting pipe 10 and the coolingblock A such that it is not possible to provide the cooling function ofthe engine system. Even if the valve 101 has been opened and the enginesystem has performed the function of cooling the engine system in theembodiment, part of the refrigerant flows to the dehumidifying watercollector 11 directly from the evaporator 8 via the connecting pipe 10.In order to allow the cooling function of the engine system beingperformed more effectively, a three-way single choice valve 102 can bemounted at a junction of the connecting pipe 10′ and the connecting pipe10 as shown in FIG. 3 instead of the valve 101, which only can beoperated with the opening and the closing states. This design allows theuser to select a way that the refrigerant only flows along the coolingblock A of the engine system and provides a better cooling function forthe engine system than the previous design or select another way thatthe refrigerant only passes through the connecting pipe 10′ directly forstopping the cooling function of the engine system.

The cooling block A of the cooling system with refrigerant according tothe present invention can be used for cooling turbine super chargingengine or mechanical charging engine in addition to using for naturalair intake engine. The cooling block A can be joined to the intermediatecooler frequently utilized by the super charging system and ispositioned closer the throttle valve 213 than the intermediate cooler.The cooling system with refrigerant according to the present inventioncan lower air temperature in the intake pipe 21 below the ambienttemperature. The conventional intermediate cooler is only possible tolower air temperature in the intake pipe 21 closer to the ambienttemperature. Alternatively, the cooling block A of the cooling systemwith refrigerant according to the present invention can be used insteadof the intermediate cooler frequently utilized by the super chargingengine, which is responsible for lowering the temperature of the intakeair. The intake air is often pressurized to occur temperature rise, andthe effect is much better than the intermediate cooler.

Further, the cooling block A of the cooling system with refrigerantaccording to the present invention can be used for cooling engine oil inaddition to being used for cooling natural air intake engine or intakeair of the super charging engine. Referring to FIGS. 4 a and 4 b, thecooling block A of the engine system for cooling engine oil is processedby that the refrigerant enters the connecting pipe 10 between theevaporator at the low pressure stage and the dehumidifying watercollector and flows and finally flows out of the heat exchanger 20 tothe refrigerant passage 22 in the heat exchanger 20 via the refrigerantinlet 221 to flow back to next section of the connecting pipe 10 betweenthe evaporator and the dehumidifying water collector. The embodimentbeing different from the cooling system shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is in thatthe engine intake pipe 21 included in the heat exchanger 20 contactingwith refrigerant passage 22 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and an oil passage21 included in the heat exchanger 20 contacting with the refrigerantpassage 22 as shown in FIG. 4. The engine oil enters the engine oilpassage 21 in the heat exchanger 20 via the oil inlet 211 and flows outof the heat exchanger via the oil outlet 212 toward the next section ofthe oil circulation cycle.

Because temperature of the oil is pretty high during the engine runningand the temperature much higher than that of the engine intake air, theoil passage 21 in the heat exchanger 20 is provided with a smaller crosssection or a smaller passage diameter and with a circuitous way so as toextend the length of the oil in the heat exchanger 20 as longer aspossible and increase contact area of the oil passage 21 with therefrigerant passage 22 as shown in FIG. 4 a. Another way for increasingthe contact area is to provide a plurality of parallel oil passages withsmaller cross sections or smaller passage diameters connecting with theoil inlet 211 and the oil outlet 212 as shown in FIG. 4 a. The coolingsystem with refrigerant according to the present invention is capable ofeffectively lowering the temperature of the oil in the engine quicklysuch that it is possible to avoid malfunction and/or to prolong parts inthe cooling system.

When the cooling system with refrigerant according to the presentinvention is applied to cool the engine oil, the refrigerant circuitoutside the heat exchanger 20 can be arranged as that illustrated inFIGS. 1 to 3 in which the through connecting pipe 10′, the valve 101 andthe switch valve 102 can be included or excluded.

The cooling system with refrigerant according to the present inventioncan be attached with a water spray cooling device to cool each hightemperature component in the engine chamber including the engine itselfduring the car running. Referring to FIG. 5, the water spray device 50includes a water trough 51, a water deliver pipeline 52, a water pump 53and a spray nozzle 54. The spray nozzle 54 is provided with smalloutgoing apertures for keeping water pressure so as to spray very finewater columns or mist columns with a shape of approximate straightlines. The spray nozzle 54 can be mounted in front of a heat dissipatingwater box of the water cooling type engine or a heat dissipating fins ofthe air cooling type engine to face the water box or the fins. Once thecar is moving, the air at the front side entering the engine is helpfulfor the water columns reaching the engine and other high temperatureparts in the engine. The water spray nozzle 54 can mounted in front ofthe heat dissipating fins for oil and face the heat dissipating fins foroil to cool the oil. Alternatively, the water spray device includes twowater nozzles 54 to face the heat dissipating water box and the heatdissipating fins for oil respectively.

The water trough 51 can be set up independently or the heat dissipatingwater box in the water cooling type engine can be used as the watertrough 51. The water pump 53 connects with a logic control unit 55 sothat the water pump 53 can run or stop running depend on instructions ofthe logic control unit 55. The logic control unit 55 continuouslyreceives a serious of signals from a temperature sensor 56 and thesignals represent temperature values. The temperature values arecompared constantly with preset temperature values under specificactuation conditions by the logic control unit 55 and then the waterpump 53 is ordered to actuate an action of pressing water such that thepressed water can sprinkle via the nozzle 54. The temperature sensor 56can be mounted to contact with the water box, the engine or the heatdissipating fins for oil to pick the data of temperatures there. Thepreset temperature values under specific actuation conditions in thelogic control unit 55 can be assigned in the factory or can be obtainedby way of an actuation temperature adjuster 57 such as a turning knob ora plurality of buttons being connected to the logic control unit 55. Thetemperature adjuster 57 also can include a device of temperature scale,digital display or analog display of temperature.

The user can adjust the preset actuation temperature to a little higheran average temperature of the water box, the oil or the engine undernormal driving condition such that the logic control unit 55 can orderthe water pump 53 to press water out via the nozzle 54 once the detectedtemperature is higher than the preset actuation temperature and mostmechanical parts in the engine room can reduce the temperature quickly.The nozzle can stop spraying the water once the detected temperaturedrops below the preset actuation temperature. Hence, the engine systemof a car can keep a constant temperature during running.

While the invention has been described with reference to the preferredembodiments thereof, it is to be understood that modifications orvariations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of thisinvention, which is defined by the appended claims.

1. A cooling system with refrigerant for air conditioning and engineparts, comprising: a compressor, a high pressure circuit filled with therefrigerant; and a low pressure circuit filled with the refrigerant too;wherein, the high pressure circuit further comprises a condenser, thelow pressure circuit further comprises an evaporator and a heatexchanger, the heat exchanger at an interior thereof is provided with arefrigerant passage and a fluid passage, which enters the engine, withthe two passages next to each other and contacting with each other andat an exterior thereof includes a refrigerant inlet, a refrigerantoutlet, a fluid entrance to the engine and a fluid exit from the engine;whereby, once the compressor is in a state of running, the refrigerantin the low pressure circuit passes through the evaporator and enters therefrigerant passage in the engine via a connecting pipe in the lowpressure circuit and the refrigerant inlet and then flows out from theheat exchanger via the refrigerant outlet; a fluid for being cooledflows into the fluid passage via the fluid entrance and flows out fromthe fluid exit before reaching an engine body; and temperature of thefluid during entering fluid passage is higher than the refrigerant inthe refrigerant passage and heat in the fluid transmits the refrigerantbetween a wall of the fluid passage and a wall of the refrigerantpassage.
 2. The cooling system with refrigerant as defined in claim 1,wherein the low pressure circuit further comprises a through pipeparallel to the heat exchanger to allow at least part of the refrigerantnot passing through the heat exchanger during circulating in the coolingsystem.
 3. The cooling system with refrigerant as defined in claim 2,wherein the connecting pipe is provided with a valve adjacent to therefrigerant inlet of the heat exchanger to control the refrigerantpassing through the heat exchanger.
 4. The cooling system withrefrigerant as defined in claim 2, wherein the connecting pipe isprovided with a valve adjacent to the refrigerant outlet of the heatexchanger to control the refrigerant passing through the heat exchanger.5. The cooling system with refrigerant as defined in claim 2, wherein aconjunction of at least a connecting pipe and the through pipe isprovided with a one to two single switch valve to control therefrigerant passing through the heat exchanger or the through pipe only.6. The cooling system with refrigerant as defined in claim 1, whereinthe fluid in the engine is intake air.
 7. The cooling system withrefrigerant as defined in claim 1, wherein the fluid in the engine isengine oil.
 8. The cooling system with refrigerant as defined in claim1, further comprises a water spray cooling device, which includes awater trough, a water delivering pipeline, a water pump and a nozzle,and the water nozzle is disposed in front of a heat dissipating waterbox of a water cooling type engine and face the heat dissipating waterbox.
 9. The cooling system with refrigerant as defined in claim 1,further comprises a water spray cooling device, which includes a watertrough, a water delivering pipeline, a water pump, a nozzle, a logiccontrol unit and a temperature sensor, with the water pump receiving aninstruction of the logic control unit to pump or not pump water to thenozzle and the instruction of pumping water being based on iftemperature data transmitted by the temperature sensor being greaterthan a preset value, wherein the nozzle is disposed in front of a heatdissipating water box of a water cooling type engine and face the heatdissipating water box.
 10. The cooling system with refrigerant asdefined in claim 1, further comprises a water spray cooling device,which includes a water trough, a water delivering pipeline, a water pumpand a nozzle, wherein the nozzle is disposed in front of and faces theheat dissipating fins for oil.
 11. The cooling system with refrigerantas defined in claim 1, further comprises a water spray cooling device,which includes a water trough, a water delivering pipeline, a waterpump, a nozzle, a logic control unit and a temperature sensor, with thewater pump receiving an instruction of the logic control unit to pump ornot pump water to the nozzle and the instruction of pumping water beingbased on if temperature data transmitted by the temperature sensor beinggreater than a preset value, wherein the nozzle is disposed in front ofand faces heat dissipating fins for oil.